Animals Elicit Emotion

Most people love animals. In fact, 62% of all American households (71.1 million)¹ have pets, compared with only 46% of households having children younger than 18 years at home.⁹ Pet owners annually spend $45.5 billion on their pets and almost 50% of them consider the animals living with them to be members of their family. It’s not surprising, then, that animals elicit such strong emotional responses. With increasing public interest in animals and broader promotion of animal rights activism, the relationship between humans and animals has been experiencing one of its most significant shifts in the last 50 years.

Media already are responding to the increasing public interest in animals. For example, Animal Planet Channel features many programs, including “Meerkat Manor,” “Petfinder,” and “Animal Cops,” and the popular network show “Funniest Pets and People,” enjoys growing audiences and sponsor support. There are hundreds of pet magazines and publications, pet websites, blogs, and Facebook fan pages, and many newspapers publish pet advice columns that offer advice, local events for pets, animal stories, and pet finder resources.

From Farm to Family

In the last 40 years, America’s agricultural-based society has drastically shifted to a predominantly urbanized society. With less than 2% of the U.S. population involved in farming today, and most people three to four generations removed from the farm, a significant detachment has evolved regarding the role of farm animals.⁶ People are much less likely to have experienced animals being raised on a farm, primarily for food products. Few children living in cities today think about a live chicken when ordering chicken nuggets from a menu.

The changing perceptions regarding the status of animals in society have created vastly differing views, ranging from the extremes of close companion to consumption or exploitation to education. They have also affected public opinions about animal management, including displaying animals in zoos, aquariums or wildlife parks, and managing populations of animals (e.g., wild horse management, wolf reintroductions, deer culling) on public-owned lands. The discussion also arises, and is covered by the media, when urban living and wildlife conflict, such as when coyotes threaten people’s pets, raccoons take over attics or, even the case when a 150-pound cougar was shot in a Chicago neighborhood alleyway in April 2008.⁵ As a result, animal-related controversies arise.

Also, the attention of animal rights groups and the media are more focused on any issues related to animals, including the following: agribusiness, including dairy, eggs and meat production; fur and leather use, from fashion to footballs; research, including cosmetics and pharmaceutical product testing; education, including biology classes using animal specimens for dissection; fishing and hunting; pet stores; dog and cat breeders and purebred competitions; and circuses, rodeos, and even grocery stores. For example, some food producers now seek the “Certified Humane Raised and Handled” labels, which indicate that the animal involved was raised humanely and without a diet that includes antibiotics or hormones. The program is managed by the Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC) group, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of farm animals by certifying their humane treatment. It is supported by more than 36 animal-focused organizations, including the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and the Humane Society of the United States.⁴

Lawyers for Animals

Animal law is one of the fastest growing segments of law practice in North America. It includes efforts to ensure the welfare, and in some cases the legal rights, of animals by establishing new case law through the courts and legislation. In many cases, an individual or group seeks court rulings to establish legal standing for animals, similar to the rights afforded a person.

Animal law encompasses companion animals, wildlife, animals used in entertainment, animals raised for food, and animals used in research. Animal law permeates and affects most traditional areas of the law, including tort, contract, criminal, and constitutional law, and in just a few years it has shown how animal law activities are now an established part of contemporary American and Western culture.

Law schools in North America have responded to the interest. As many as 116 of 180 law schools now offer animal law courses or programs. which is 10 times as many as just 10 years ago. This in turn increases the amount of litigation involving how animals are treated and their legal standing by law; it can encompass veterinary malpractice, animal custody cases, and trusts for companion animals. High-profile cases, such as Leona Helmsley leaving a $12 million inheritance to her dog Trouble, has raised awareness that 39 states allow pet owners to endow pet trusts.

Few will argue that cruelty to animals is unacceptable; however, it has only been in the last 10 years that states began passing stricter animal cruelty laws, including felony animal cruelty laws in 42 states. The high-profile conviction of National Football League quarterback Michael Vick for participating in illegal dog fighting is an example of the intensified protection of animals by laws and the counts. Attorney Michael Socarras told the Association of American Medical Colleges that “there is a very important shift underway in the manner in which many people in law schools and in the legal profession think about animals. This shift has not yet reached popular opinion. However, in [the United States], social change has and may occur through the courts, which in many instances do not operate as democratic institutions. Therefore, the evolution in elite legal opinion is extremely significant.“⁷

Celebrity Influence

Once seen as often too extreme in their views—that animals deserve the same rights as humans—animal rights groups, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), are using strategic communications and creative projects to gain more broad recognition from the public and media as animal advocates. PETA’s often edgy campaigns—for example, going naked to oppose wearing fur—draw media and public attention, and they successfully use the social media to enlist and mobilize a wide range of supporters who share their beliefs. For example, following the death of a high-profile elephant, some zoos received hundreds of e-mail messages generated by PETA followers requesting that the zoo close its elephant program within hours of the animal’s death. PETA and In Defense of Animals (IDA) both have national campaigns that include websites, public programs, and dedicated staff working at removing elephants from zoos permanently.

Celebrities, with their strong influence particularly on young people in their teens and 20s, play an influential role in animal rights issues. Pamela Anderson is frequently a spokeswoman for PETA’s antifur campaign. Former “The Price is Right” star Bob Barker, who in 2010 donated $5 million to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to fight whaling, as well as $1 million to stop pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania, has consistently made $1 million grants to numerous U.S. law schools, including Harvard, Stanford, University of Virginia, and Northwestern University, for the establishment of animal law programs. Noted animal lawyer and former Animal Legal Defense Fund president Steven M. Wise says that Barker, with his direct donations, has the right idea regarding how to change the status of animals in society rapidly. Wise taught the first animal law course at Harvard Law School and wrote the seminal animal rights book, Rattling the Cage: Toward Legal Rights for Animals.⁸